GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 32) full house · full heart · full time Empty nest, the sequel By Al MArtinez it was more heart wrenching the second time around T he kids grow up one by one, leave home for col- lege, marriage or a chance to shape their own futures, and the house grows quiet. The nest is empty. Then, about the time we’re beginning to find relief in the absence of our brood, the grandchildren come along. Then they, too, grow up and take off, and the house once filled with grandchildren again becomes tomblike in its silence. Welcome to Empty Nest II. We have enjoyed the company of five grandchildren over the years. My contribution to their knowledge and welfare has been to tell them fantastical stories about the cat that learned to fly and the shoes that walked away. The story- telling times were known as the “martini sessions”: the stories they seemed to enjoy that I told during the cocktail hour. Nicole, our son’s daughter, was different from the other four. She seemed to concentrate the hardest and ask the most questions. A gifted artist, she also possessed a singularity of character that knew no master; and that was bound to lead to trouble at home. After a clash with her family, she ended up living with us for her last two years in high school and two years in art school. Raising a rebellious granddaughter in her teens is not dissimilar in its degree of difficulty to, say, bull riding. Changes in a teenager’s emotions are about as abrupt as a wild bull’s buck and spin. Despite age and experience, we grandparents are no longer 32 GRAND NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2008
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